Sugar
by Elf Asato
Summary: Drabble written for Summer Detour Challenge. Genfic. Sanzo spends the day with Goku.


**Title:** Sugar  
**Author:** Elf Asato  
**Summary:** Genfic. Sanzo and Goku spend the day together.  
**Disclaimer:** Saiyuki is the creation of Minekura Kazuya, and the song _Sugar_ is by Tonic. Mm, _Sugar_'s a good CD, even if the song itself is so-so.  
**Notes:** Written for the Summer Detour Challenge. I've never written a gen fic for Saiyuki before, much less with Sanzo and Goku. And while not being a typical 'songfic', the first two lines written reminded me of Sanzo and Goku's relationship and really put this idea into my head. Thus the title _Sugar_. I'm not sure I did justice to the two, though, and for that I offer my apologies. There's a lot going on in this little one-shot that I didn't write.   
  


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**Sugar**  
_By Elf Asato_  
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_Underneath the golden flowers  
Where my sunshine grows_

  
  
It was all Hakkai's idea, really, for Sanzo to spend some quality time with his 'pet' while he and Gojyo stocked up on supplies in town. For the _entire_ day. Said it would help bolster their bond as a group. Or maybe he said it would be good for Goku to spend some time with his lackluster caretaker. Perhaps the other way around.  
  
Whatever he said, though, wasn't important, Sanzo felt. It was crap anyway.  
  
India was hottest in the summer, so it was fortunate that the town they stopped at had a moderate-sized lake. Hakkai suggested that they spend the day there. Well, everything the youkai did was a suggestion, so it didn't do justice to put it that way; as Gojyo put it, in Hakkai-speak it was a command, something you couldn't reason out of or escape.  
  
So Sanzo had agreed, if only, he told Hakkai and himself, to prevent the subtle, yet still annoying nagging his roommate would subject him to if he refused. And that was the reason he gave to Goku when telling him that the two would spend the day together, regardless of whether they liked it or not.  
  
It made Goku happy, though, and he smiled radiantly at Sanzo as they sat on the lakefront the following day. The monk sat on the Hakkai-provided blanket and guarded the full picnic basket, watching the monkey getting filthy (oh, Hakkai was going to _love_ washing his clothes) in his attempt to build sandcastles out of the mud, which didn't really make them sandcastles, he supposed, but that really wasn't the point. Goku had built a little mudcastle city, but when he turned to build something else, his foot slipped and crushed half of his city.  
  
And as the corner of Sanzo's mouth twitched, it almost made everything worthwhile.  
  
"_Sanzo_!" Goku cried out, looking down at his foot and the crushed mudcastle city below. "Why didn't you _warn_ me?"  
  
Sanzo merely replied, though, that if the monkey would only watch out where he stepped then things like that wouldn't happen. Goku then tried to persuade and guilt his caretaker into helping him rebuild his city, but Sanzo refused. Instead, to stop the monkey's whining, he suggested that they take a break and kill the picnic basket.  
  
It had taken a Herculean effort in conjunction with Hakkai's gentle _suggestions_ the night before for Goku not to complain about his hunger.  
  
As always, Goku inhaled his food and Sanzo's as well since the monk didn't seem like he was going to eat that meatbun anyway... Then, in a momentary bout of guilt after the crime, he complained that Hakkai hadn't packed enough for the both of them.  
  
To which Sanzo replied that an entire village's stock of food wouldn't be enough for him.  
  
Goku had become too distracted by a bird at that point to really care to think of a retort. He relayed to Sanzo with excitement about the bird's vibrant colors, the noises it made, how it flapped its wings when it soared into the sky, and, of course, he remarked how tasty a pretty bird like that must be. When his Sanzo didn't seem too interested, though, Goku attempted to get his attention and educate him further on the subject of the bird by flapping his arms animatedly.  
  
And as Sanzo took a drag from his recently lit cigarette, his lips curved upwards, slight and muted.  
  
He supposed it made everything worthwhile.  
  


**End**

  
  



End file.
